Purple-Eyed Soul
by PennyGesserit
Summary: A collection of one-shots that explore Talos and Soren's relationship.


**Youth Without Youth**

Finally graduation day at the academy was upon them and the young skrull Talos was proud of where he had gotten himself at this point, his grin wide and his posture confident. The thoughts of his long gone parents resurfaced constantly these past few days, but painful as it had been he was happy for those moments. Graduation reminded him that the opportunity to serve his people was not to be taken lightly like his parents who served their cause and ended up sacrificing their lives for it. Talos sometimes questioned the nature of why he decided to join the academy, but as far as he was concerned he was always meant to be here, he didn't often carry happiness with him but he was effective in almost every endeavour he had undertaken, with the exception of companionship.

He studied the sea of graduates that joined him in the occasion, elated to be sharing this day with friends he had gone through extensive hardships with for four years, everyone was all smiles, and an air of glee accompanied it. When she came into view he felt a smile curl on the side of his lips. Soren, lady Soren. When he laid eyes on her he would say aloud the words he wishes he could say, often leading to his most embarrassing moments in the presence of his friends and fellow cadets. Talos chuckled and looked away from her at the thought of him, a common skrull being in the presence of a lady like her. What would they even talk about? Soren studied biology at the academy so it was likely she was going into science or research but he was going to be away in the battlefield when war does happen as everyone has been gossiping. He looked at her direction only to catch her also staring at him, it felt warm, her smile soothing and infectious that a smile was about to form on his lips before they both looked the other to avoid the attention from their peers.

"Did you and Soren just far away eyeball each other?" Rellen, his best friend arrived out of nowhere and blurted it out for anyone nearby to hear. Talos did not reply, instead he placed a palm over his face in embarrassment. "You totally did!" Rellen giggled.

"Stop it now, you hear?" Talos said, tired. "It's not like she'll actually give me the time of day." He added, hopelessly romantic though he would never admit to the latter.

"Come of it, and I'm saying this because this is my graduation present to you," He said with some hesitation. "though I can't give it to you physically." Rellen added which was met with a confused look from Talos.

"So what are we even talking about here?" Talos asked, his voice deepening.

"I did some recon on Soren," Rellen began,

"You mean you stalked her?"

"No, Ezel told me." His friend replied, "She said you are exactly Soren's type...I meant she gave a list of the kind of skrull men Soren liked and..." Rellen's voice trailed off.

Ezel of all skrulls, the one everyone thought could do no harm or as everyone in their class called 'the quiet one', he never expected Ezel to be the one to surprise him of all his fellow skrulls in their class. Ezel was what the elders called a grull; a skrull who hatched but had ghost white skin not green with purple highlights. Talos wondered what secrets Ezel has been holding from him and everyone else, she never seemed to have any friends but the majority of everyone in their class was terrified of her. The stories say having a grull child was a curse from the gods and Ezel made sure to cause some chaos here and there because of how she was branded by them.

"So she likes normal skrull men, common skrulls not like her kind?" he could almost feel his muscles relax at the thought that he might have a chance.

"She likes the tall, dark and handsome type." Rellen blurted out in a whisper, "Ezel was very specific when she told me all this, so perhaps when you finally ask her out on a proper date you can finally tell her how you feel about her instead of blurting it out on us."

There were a few cadets who tried to hide their laughter at Rellen's remark but it was always in good spirit, Rellen and everyone else in his class knew he was more than competent and reliable but companionship was a real obstacle for him than they thought it would be.

"Relax Talos, if she rejects you at least you won't be chasing her for the rest of your life while she's off with someone else." Rellen said in all seriousness.

"You know something Rellen?" Talos began after a long pause, turning to face his friend, "in the four years we've been friends this is the first time you've given me advice that I'm actually willing to take."

The graduation ceremony was all pomp and circumstance, a military exercise was held to show the discipline it takes to be part of a military. On his end he was having the best time of his life, that sense of accomplishing something from nothing truly is a feeling one can experience if one puts in the effort to do so. Talos studied the faces of his fellow cadets turned lieutenants and for the second time today he met Soren's eyes, the lightest shade of purple and her trademark small peppers of purple highlights on the sides of her temples. She had been laughing with her friends when she caught his eyes on her and with a little hesitation on both parties, Talos and Soren made their way to each other amongst the crowd of very happy skrulls and stopped just a few feet away from each other.

Soren smiled, he could feel his cheeks warm up due to her smile alone but he wanted to get this right, he wanted those eyes to be the ones he would look at every night and those endearing peppered purple highlights on her temple to nibble when they were at their most intimate. The illusion quickly faded just as it came across his mind but their eyes were still locked onto the others'.

"Would you like to go to lunch with me?" Talos asked, only dawning at the thought of a very public rejection despite everyone else being distracted by the fireworks and the celebration.

"Funny you're asking that since I was going to ask you the same question," her smile widened, warn and calming his nerves. "Would tomorrow do?" with that Talos smiled and nodded, "How about instead of lunch, we spend the entire day together?"

Talos did not reply, but no reply was needed for his answer to be understood.


End file.
